• Collin Morikawa and Matthew NeSmith share first-round lead at US Open.
• Rory McIlroy shares third on 2-under with David Lingmerth, Joaquin Niemann and Stewart Hagestad.
• LIV golf offers the largest purses in sport’s history at $25 million per regular-season event.

Reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa sank a 16-foot birdie putt at the par-4 ninth to share Thursday’s early first-round lead at the 122nd US Open.

The 25-year-old American, who also won the 2020 PGA Championship, had a bogey-free front nine at The Country Club to stand on 3-under alongside fellow American Matthew NeSmith.

World number seven Morikawa rolled in a birdie putt from just over 50 feet at the par-3 second, then blasted out of a bunker at the fifth to within six feet of the cup and sank the birdie putt before his birdie at the ninth put him in the lead.

NeSmith, ranked 166th, had his best PGA showing with a share of third at the Valspar Championship in March and missed the cut at the 2015 US Open in his only prior major start.

Read More: Open winner Morikawa intends to compete in Scottish Open

His shock early run to the top included a bunker shot to four feet and sinking the birdie putt at the par-4 fifth, making a birdie putt from just inside four feet at the par-5 eighth and rolling in a 22-foot birdie putt at the par-3 11th.

Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner, shared third on 2-under with fellow back-nine starter David Lingmerth of Sweden plus US amateur Stewart Hagestad and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann.

McIlroy, who won last week’s PGA Canadian Open, has not captured a major title since the 2014 PGA Championship.

The 33-year-old Northern Ireland star will try to become the first player since 1934 to win the US Open after a victory in the prior week.

McIlroy sank a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th and a 17-foot birdie putt at the 18th.

Lingmerth birdied 16 and 18 from just inside 30 feet while Niemann eagled the par-5 eighth, putting his second shot within five feet and sinking the eagle putt.

Hagestad birdied the fifth and seventh, dropping his approaches inches from the cup each time.

Defending champion Jon Rahm missed a seven-foot par putt to bogey the third, then missed a birdie putt from inside five feet at the fourth before catching fire.

Rahm dropped his approach at the fifth just inside five feet and sank the birdie putt, then rolled in a 13-foot birdie putt at the par-3 sixth and landed his approach at the par-5 eighth inside four feet. He made the birdie putt but then made bogey at the ninth to fall back into a group on one-under.

Read More: Morikawa puts golf glory ahead of financial gain

The 7,254-yard course was set to deliver headaches aplenty with dense rough and hard-to-hold greens.

Golf’s great divide was a major sub-plot as rebels of Saudi-backed upstart LIV Golf Series and stars of the established US PGA Tour were both in the field of 156.

The US Golf Association chose not to follow a PGA Tour ban of 17 golfers who played in last week’s LIV Golf debut in England, staying faithful to this year’s US Open qualifying standards.

LIV Golf offers the largest purses in the sport’s history at $25 million per regular-season event, $7.5 million more than this week’s US Open prize money total.

LIV Golf’s breakaway big names like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson had afternoon tee times.

‘Scary’

Six-time major winner Mickelson, who turned 52 Thursday, would complete a career Grand Slam with a victory and break his record as golf’s oldest major winner from last year’s PGA Championship at age 50.

But the US left-hander’s shared 33rd at the LIV Golf opener was his first result after a four-month layoff taken after he apologized for comments about the Saudis that were made public last February.

Mickelson called the Saudi LIV backers “scary” and condemned their human rights record but said he supported the leverage they gave in dealing with the PGA.

Read More: Morikawa tries to overtake Rahm for No. 1 in Hawaii

Other LIV Golf players with late starts include South African Louis Oosthuizen and two US players who joined last weekend, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.

Afternoon starters also include Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas.